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Ecological Groups

The plants in the Qur’anic Botanic Garden fall into three categories according to their natural habitats.

Desert plants: These are plants that naturally grow in the Arabian Desert, such as tamarisk trees, Sidr trees, samr trees, arak trees and lemongrass. When planted, they require full sun, and they are hardy when it comes to heat and dry weather.

Mediterranean plants: These grow in the northern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean. They are mostly fruit trees, such as grape vines, fig trees, olive trees, black seeds, safflower and pomegranate trees. They typically require partial shade to survive the summer heat.

Tropical plants: These grow naturally in warm rainy climates, and most of them are traditionally used as medicinal herbs or in making natural cosmetics. These include camphor, costus, ginger, saffron and agar-wood.

The early Arabs knew Mediterranean and tropical plants through commercial trips "winter and summer trips" to India, Palestine and Africa that were before and after Islam, so it was no surprise to the companions to know the plant names that has been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an or Hadith as they knew those plants through their trade and their journeys and daily use of those plants.